


When the Waves Come Crashing Over Us

by Grotesgi



Series: Hope and Solace [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Planet, Aliens, Aquariums, Breakout, Captive Mers, Captivity, Escape, Free Mers, Gen, Humans, Merformers, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25341292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grotesgi/pseuds/Grotesgi
Summary: Back to where the skies will ever take meDown here in this prison I'll be breakingFar from here there is a place where I belongNow I'll be returning home
Relationships: Sideswipe & Sunstreaker
Series: Hope and Solace [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835254
Kudos: 36





	1. Breaking

**Author's Note:**

> Xandria - Stardust

“Are we sure about this?” Sideswipe whispered as the lights began to dim. The humans would be gone soon, and then…

Then.

“We are,” Sunstreaker responded vehemently, swimming their usual circle by his side.

And Sideswipe wished he had all of his brother’s certainty. Because Sideswipe, he wasn’t so sure about this.

Six years. For six years this tank and the room it was in had been all they knew. There was the one window they could see through to what was outside of their tank in that direction—a wide hallway the humans traversed, and beyond it, more tanks with other creatures in them. Smaller creatures.

They were the only big ones they’d ever seen.

On the opposite side of the tank was the platform the humans always called them to. There were three doors on the wall behind it: two double doors and one lonely one. They knew what was behind those, to an extent. Two led to storage areas. Nothing interesting, it was just where the humans pulled equipment from.

But the double doors in the middle… There was something more behind it. When even one of the doors was open, you could see another set of double doors on the far side of the room.

It was what the humans used to come to their tank.

There was something beyond it. Something _more._

More than just the tank and the platform. 

_More._ There had been more, once upon a time. Before they were yearlings, there had been _more._

But that was such a long time ago. Six years. 

Sideswipe wasn’t even sure how much he trusted those memories. There had been the sea. Endless in all directions. No walls. Never walls. Waves, currents… They moved you even when you weren’t moving, made you work to stay in position.

There wasn’t this… _Stillness._ The water in the tank didn’t move.

And… There had been carrier. Taking care of them, coaching them on how to survive in the wide open ocean. Teaching them about the dangers while letting them frolick their young hearts out under the safety of their pod’s watchful eyes.

There had been so much to learn. So much to do.

So much to live for.

And then it had all been stripped from them. _All of it._ Their pod, their carrier, the ocean.

Their freedom, their joy.

Replaced with… _This._

Sideswipe had a look around the tank as they swam. This was their home. Four solid walls defined the boundaries of it, tiled. Blue. Same for the floor. There was the platform, the only way out of the pool. Not that they really wanted to get out of it.

Well… They didn’t want to get out of it just to get on the platform instead, where they were on land, slow and defenseless and uncomfortable.

But maybe they wanted to get out for something more.

And there was the window. Aside from the doors, that was their only glimpse to the outside world. And it wasn’t really _outside,_ just a different part of the same building. 

But it was outside of their tank.

And Sideswipe? He hadn’t been outside of it in six years.

Maybe it was different for Sunstreaker because he had been moved every now and then to the second tank that was… Somewhere in the building too. They didn’t know where, but there it was. Sunstreaker had been out of _this_ tank.

Maybe that gave him more courage than what Sideswipe had. Or maybe Sunstreaker just was that much braver. He had always been… _Bolder_ wasn’t necessarily the right word.

Dauntless. Sunstreaker was dauntless. Even if he felt fear, he didn’t let it slow him down. He wouldn’t let it control his actions.

Sideswipe couldn’t say the same about himself. He wasn’t a coward either, but he didn’t have the unyielding confidence in himself that Sunstreaker carried. Sunstreaker _knew_ he could survive through anything, so there was nothing he needed to fear too much.

Sideswipe was pretty sure there were a lot of things he would struggle to pull through. He wasn’t Sunstreaker.

But that had always been alright, because they were together, and Sunstreaker was there for him. Like he was now. Sideswipe could feel Sunstreaker’s certainty practically oozing from him, saturating the water around them and building some steel in Sideswipe’s own floundering heart.

This had been it. For six years. Six years they’d dreamed of the ocean they’d been taken from, unable to return but yearning all the same.

Always yearning.

And now… They were on the threshold of trying to fulfill their dreams.

All or nothing. This was their chance. If they failed…

Sideswipe wasn’t sure what would happen if they failed. He didn’t want to think about it. Sunstreaker had said they wouldn’t fail. They really couldn’t afford to, Sideswipe could agree on that much.

If they succeeded? That thought was equally scary if you asked him.

_Six years._ They’d been so young. How well did their memories even hold up after all this time? How much had time gilded them?

“Sunny, I…” Sideswipe started, slowing down until he had stopped entirely. Sunstreaker continued a few paces ahead before stopping too, and turning around to look at him. His face was blank, but even so Sideswipe could already tell Sunstreaker knew what he was about to say.

He’d said it so many times.

The lights were almost to their lowest setting.

It was almost time.

And… “I’m scared,” he admitted in a voice small enough that he wasn’t sure if it would even carry to Sunstreaker. Sideswipe hung his head and wrapped his arms around himself.

Six years.

Sunstreaker might have heard after all, because he backtracked over to him and wrapped his arms around him. Sideswipe leaned against his chest, burying his face into the crook of his neck.

“I know,” his brother said. “But this’ll be worth it. _I promise.”_

And Sideswipe wanted to believe that. So bad.

“We don’t belong here,” Sunstreaker continued. “No matter what they’ve drilled into our heads. _We don’t belong here._ There’s more out there. You remember, right?” Sunstreaker’s voice slowly lowered until it was nothing but a soothing murmur in his ear. “This isn’t all there is.”

“I remember,” Sideswipe whispered back. He did.

And he didn’t want this to be all there was, either. _Knew_ it wasn’t.

He just… Wasn’t sure it would be worth it. It wasn’t… _So_ bad here. They were fed, and they were safe.

What did they have to do in return? Swim around looking pretty? Do some tricks they were rewarded for in treats? Let the humans touch and handle them? Entertain them?

It could be worse.

But it was so boring. There was so little to do. Nothing to explore, just the same tank with its four tiled walls, and the platform. That was the beginning and the end of their _entire_ living space. 

Versus what they would’ve had if they were _out there._ Out there there were no limits whatsoever, _no_ beginning and _no_ end to where they could go.

Everywhere. They could’ve gone anywhere, everywhere.

And the humans?

They had to put up with _so much_ in here. From their first day here. 

No food, except from _them._

He’d been too terrified to leave the very bottom of the tank for a week straight. Sunstreaker hadn’t been much better.

After that first week hunger had finally won over, and one of the many times the humans came to offer them fish, he had given in and went over to snatch it from them as quickly as he could before returning to the bottom of the tank to share it with Sunstreaker.

They didn’t like that he did that. They let him do it for a few days, then they’d upped the difficulty. They hadn’t just let go of the fish, but held it at the end of their stupid stick. He hadn’t been able to return anything to Sunstreaker like that, when he needed to stay there just to get pieces off of the only food they were offered.

Sunstreaker had been headstrong and stubborn and he’d gone three more days without any food before the hunger had gotten too much even for him.

And once they were both fetching their food from the humans, they’d only made it harder and harder to _earn._ First came the platform. Come out of the water or no food for you.

That had been relatively easy.

But the _touching_ began after that. Just… Petting, and if you got spooked and went back to the water, well, no food for you.

He could still remember the way his heart had been hammering as he tried to finish the fish as quickly as he could to get away from their hands.

That was when Sunstreaker had started to act out too. He hadn’t wanted the touching either, but he hadn’t been too afraid to do something about.

He’d snapped and lashed out when they tried to touch him. A few times there had been blood. The humans had gotten careful with him, but they hadn’t… _Stopped._

No cooperation, no food.

Sideswipe had cooperated. The alternative was to go hungry, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

It was worse than putting up with them touching him more and more. Everywhere on his body, until he wasn’t afraid of what they were going to do anymore.

Just angry. But he didn’t act on it like Sunstreaker did.

Because you didn’t get food if you acted out.

Eventually Sunstreaker had given in too, the hunger getting too much for him to bear. The humans continued to be careful with him, but he didn’t do _as much_ anymore.

Once they were fine with the touching, came the orders. A sound the humans made that designated an action they were supposed to carry out.

No food if you didn’t do it.

And it had grown, and grown, until they’d _given up_ and accepted the only way to get food was to do whatever the humans asked. Sunstreaker had gotten so angry, and sometimes the humans got to feel it, but there was still fear, deep caution behind it all too.

The humans had killed their carrier. What would’ve stopped them from killing them too, if they became too much trouble?

So they didn’t become too much trouble, no matter the humiliation they were put through. Jump those hoops, do those tricks, take those orders…

Sideswipe shook his head from where he kept it buried against his twin’s neck. He didn’t want any more of that. Not a single day more of that. He didn’t want to be a puppet to the humans, held hostage with the threat of starvation, a prisoner in the manmade construct that doubled as a torture chamber. 

It wasn’t so bad? It _was_ that bad. 

He didn’t want to take any more of it. Not one more show where the humans cheered for him while he followed their handlers’ orders. Not one more training session that left his skin crawling. Not one more operation they saw fit to put him through— _tie his arms so he couldn’t fight back too much, expect him to just stay there and take it._

And he had stayed there and taken it so many times.

No more. Could he have a no more?

He wanted.

He feared.

“We’ll get out of here,” Sunstreaker growled, tightening his hold on him for a moment before pulling back to have a look at him. Sideswipe met his eyes, knowing his own face reflected such a mix of emotion.

This was their home.

But also, it wasn’t. It wasn’t supposed to be.

Their home was _out there._ In the ocean. 

They didn’t belong here.

So Sideswipe nodded mutely, closing his eyes and letting Sunstreaker’s surety seep into him.

They’d get out, and… And it would be all right. Things would work out. For the better.

Better than this.

“You remember the combination?” Sunstreaker asked, prompting Sideswipe to open his eyes back up. He nodded again.

“Top right, left middle, right middle, low middle,” he recited the phrase he’d memorized.

It hadn’t taken a lot of time. If the humans had wondered why he hung out on the platform for the sake of it, they hadn’t shown it, just went about their business. And Sideswipe had watched, as subtly as he could.

There was the pad next to the middle doors, with buttons with symbols on them. The humans pressed it in certain order when they wanted to leave, if the door wasn’t open.

_It opened the door._

And whatever was on the other side of it… It was _more._ More than this. 

It was a chance.

The lights were out except for the small ones that stayed on all night like messed up moonlight. Sideswipe’s breathing quickened.

They’d promised to wait for a while after this, to make sure there would be no one around. They never saw anyone during the night. There was no one around during the night as far as they knew.

But they had to make sure everyone had had all the time they needed to leave. 

So. A little while.

It was a little while to have more time for second thoughts, but Sideswipe set to battle every last one of them as they continued swimming. Yes, this was safe. They were fed, there were no dangers. They were taken care of.

But they weren’t happy. The tradeoff was being at the humans’ mercy every moment of every day.

It wasn’t worth it.

_It wasn’t._

He just had to remember that. Had to remember all the negative and forget the positive, lest his resolve crumble.

Sunstreaker showed no signs of hesitation, no doubt. Sideswipe envied him.

They swam and waited. There were no sounds aside from the steady background hum of the aquarium. No human voices.

Nothing but them and the water.

“Let’s go,” Sunstreaker eventually said, taking the lead and breaking from their circle to head to the platform. Sideswipe followed, trying to calm his heart, his fears, with thoughts and memories of the times before all this.

Back to that. They were going back to that. He had to believe it was as good as he remembered.

Had to, or his courage would fail.

Sunstreaker pulled himself up from the water and Sideswipe followed suit. They both dragged themselves to the door, Sunstreaker lifting one hand to the pad only to hesitate.

“What did you say the combination was?”

“Top right, left middle, right middle, low middle.”

Sunstreaker followed his instruction and pressed the buttons with his claw. Once he finished, there was a beep, a light turned green, and they could hear a _click_ from the door. 

They exchanged a glance before Sideswipe carefully reached over and pressed the door handle.

The door opened.

Sideswipe’s heart threatened to pound straight out of his chest despite himself. 

Sunstreaker didn’t hesitate. “Come on,” he said before pushing past Sideswipe to squeeze through the doorway. The second door didn’t open, but they didn’t really have the time to figure out how to open it. It wasn’t necessary anyway.

It was a tight fit, but rolling onto his side, Sunstreaker was able to squeeze himself through the open door and into the room beyond. Sideswipe glanced after him once, but there really wasn’t room for them both in the room, spacious as it was.

“Next?” he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice from quivering.

The tank was right there. All he needed to do was turn around and slip back into its welcoming water and pretend they’d never tried this.

Everything would be as it had been.

_No._ No. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want the humans watching or directing his every move.

He didn’t want to be here.

He wanted to be out there.

It would be worth it.

Sunstreaker didn’t answer him with more than a growl when the second door wouldn’t budge when he pressed its handle. But Sunstreaker wasn’t discouraged. He pulled back a little bit before lunging forward, ramming his shoulder into the middle of the double doors.

They weren’t meant to take abuse like that, and under Sunstreaker’s weight and strength they buckled. Another hit and they slammed open to the tune of his brother’s satisfied grunt. _“That,_ next. Come.”

Sideswipe couldn’t see what was behind the second doors past his brother’s bulk, but Sunstreaker made his way through them—far more easily now that they were both open.

And Sideswipe? He glanced over his shoulder at the tank, bit his lip-

And turned to wriggle his way through the doorway far too small for them.

Only the tip of Sunstreaker’s tail was visible by the time Sideswipe made it into the next room, and he pulled his way through it until he could glance through the next doorway to see where Sunstreaker was headed.

There was a hallway there. Pretty big one. Big enough for them to maneuver relatively comfortably.

That was a relief, at least.

“How do you know which way to go?” Sideswipe whispered after Sunstreaker, glancing up and down the hall. It looked the same in both directions.

“Can’t you smell that?” Sunstreaker responded no more loudly. It didn’t feel right to be too loud now, even if there was no one to hear them.

Even if they made more noise by just moving around. By breathing—shallow, desperate inhales into too small lungs, exhales just as quick. Rinse and repeat, pant pant _pant_.

And that was just staying still. Moving was so much worse.

But Sideswipe sniffed at the prompting. There was water. Their tank, but also whiffs of other tanks. Humans. Their stench was strong. Fish, food. The scent of the entire construct they were in—the air circulation.

No, no, not just that. Sideswipe’s head whipped around when he could get just the faintest sense of _fresh air_ from the direction Sunstreaker was headed. 

It could be nothing, but there was nothing but the smell of the aquarium in the other direction.

It could be something.

Sunstreaker was already headed to that direction with purpose in his motions, and Sideswipe followed, now with more hope than what he’d felt since they started to look for ways to actually _escape._ It had felt like a pipe dream at first, not something achievable.

But then they had come up with a plan. A poor one, one with just a single step and a _who knows_ after that, but it was more than nothing. 

Sideswipe still hadn’t dared think it would actually work. He didn’t want to hope only for that to be crushed.

But that was a lie. He wanted to hope, he wanted to hope so badly.

He had just been so afraid.

Still was, but now… He felt reinvigorated, too. Like there was a _chance._ A small one, but it was there and he couldn’t deny it.

Sunstreaker led the way to the end of the first hallway. After that, there was another, but this one was pretty big too. And no doors in the connection point of those two.

They followed the scent to another set of doors, but those gave way to Sunstreaker’s shoulder too. Sideswipe wanted to say something about the blood that was left behind on the door and the bruises he knew Sunstreaker’s shoulder would have, but bit his lip. It went without saying.

It also went without saying it was a price Sunstreaker would’ve been willing to pay a hundred times over.

But what opened on the other side of these doors?

A large room, full of human made equipment, some familiar, some not. 

But that wasn’t the important detail. What was important was how much stronger the scent of fresh air had gotten.

Sideswipe could feel his heart rushing to beat all over again, this time for an entirely different reason. _Excitement._ A stupid, hopeful little feeling that made his chest flutter.

He didn’t know whether to embrace or stifle it.

They’d both stilled on arrival to the large space, but Sunstreaker set in motion at that moment, rushing over the hard floor to the other wall, heedless of how raw the skin on their undersides had already gotten from _too much_ moving on land. Sideswipe followed, barely keeping up.

Eagerness. He hadn’t seen that emotion in Sunstreaker since… Forever. 

Sunstreaker hoped. 

Sideswipe almost gave himself the permission to do the same. It drowned out the pain from his abraded skin, made him want to _move._

To _try._

They couldn’t fail.

They _wouldn’t._

The wall was barely a wall at all with how many doors it had. But these ones didn’t look like they would open on vertical hinges. There were no hinges, and they were segmented, and even to Sideswipe’s untrained eye it looked like they were supposed to go _up._

And the smell of fresh air. It was so strong, streaming in from every crack, every crevice.

It had him longing like he didn’t know possible.

But he couldn’t _get_ to it.

“How do we open these?” Sideswipe asked, still in whisper, hobbling around to inspect the doors just as Sunstreaker did. “These look too solid to break.”

Sunstreaker was quiet for a moment, fiddling with some sort of a mechanism next to one door. It did nothing, and he scowled before the expression morphed into an ugly snarl.

Sunstreaker wanted out, that much was so obvious.

Sideswipe did too, but right next to the overwhelming excitement there was equally overwhelming fear of the unknown.

If they got these doors open, what would be on the other side?

What did the outside world look like?

What did it _feel_ like?

He couldn’t think like that though. Not _if_ they got the doors, but _when._

But something made him feel they were already on borrowed time. They needed to hurry and be out of here if they ever wanted to escape. 

To that end Sunstreaker rumbled before backing up a little bit. “We’ll see about that.”

Before Sideswipe could voice his skepticism on the doors’ durability again, Sunstreaker had already turned around in one violent motion, putting considerable momentum into his already strong tail and _slamming_ it into one of the doors. Sideswipe winced at the resulting bang, both for its loudness and because he knew that an impact like that had to beyond hurt.

But Sunstreaker didn’t show it. He didn’t react in any way. Again Sideswipe had no chance to say anything before Sunstreaker had already repeated the motion, although Sideswipe noted that he tried to aim with a different part of his tail this time around. 

He could only hope that the muscle and fat would be enough to protect his bones.

On the second impact, no lesser than the first, the segments of the door started to come apart. _Air_ streamed into the room in one intoxicating cloud and even Sideswipe couldn’t contain himself anymore, moving closer.

This time he got a word in. “Let me,” he said, pushing Sunstreaker aside. Sunstreaker went more easily than he would’ve expected, which raised concern on how badly hurt he actually was—but there was no time for that right now. They had to get out first. They could take stock of their injuries later.

Once they were safe.

They _would_ get to safety. The _real_ kind, not artificially built by stealing their freedom.

The safety of the waves where humans couldn’t reach them. _That_ safety.

Sideswipe allowed himself to hope.

And he did just what Sunstreaker had done, swinging his tail with all the power he could put behind it into the damaged door. It didn’t break apart _entirely,_ but it was damn near. 

There was a hole. Not big enough for them to pass through, but that didn’t matter. Sunstreaker pushed past him again, impatient, and this time used his arms to push the damaged pieces aside enough-

Enough that the hole was big enough. Barely so, and there were sharp bits all over the place, but it would do.

Sunstreaker didn’t stop to wait. As soon as there was the opening, he was already pushing through it, arms first to catch himself on the other side, dragging his tail after him.

Sideswipe noticed the blood that was left behind on the broken door.

He suspected his own would soon join it.

He barely waited until Sunstreaker’s tail fin was through the hole before he was already taking his turn, and yeah, he was right about the blood. He couldn’t possibly lift his tail enough to entirely avoid scraping it against the shattered pieces of the door. They dug into his flesh painfully.

But he ignored it. There was no way he couldn’t ignore it as soon as his head had passed through.

Because an invisible stream of air hit him in the face.

_Wind._

Sideswipe couldn’t contain the sob that had nothing to do with the long scrapes left on his underside as he pulled the rest of his tail after him.

Wind.

Wind wind _wind._

He’d forgotten what it felt like, what it smelled like, but now Sideswipe couldn’t do more than gasp, pulling it in with every breath with all of its wild scents.

So many scents.

Sunstreaker had stopped, just as enthralled. And that was before Sideswipe even had the presence of mind to glance around. 

When he did... 

Well, he cried, and he wasn’t even ashamed of it. 

It was all land, and that wasn’t good, but they were _out._ There were trees, other shrubs. Human buildings—all bathed in real, _actual_ moonlight.

Above them, the sky stretched in all directions, littered with stars.

He hadn’t remembered how many stars there were.

But most importantly, there was nothing and no one to stop them from going where they wanted to go.

Speaking of which… “Sunny, Sunny, Sunny,” Sideswipe rushed to his brother’s side, trying to ignore the burning pain in his underside. “We need to go.”

“Yeah. Yeah we gotta,” Sunstreaker agreed, sounding and looking a little dazed.

But at least he agreed. 

Water. They needed to find water, and Sideswipe tried to sniff for it, but there was _so much._ He couldn’t make sense of all the smells assaulting his senses, no matter how he tried. There were just too many. Human smells, so many different plants, the ground itself, nearby animals, the night air with its own cool scent, and everything the wind brought to them from who knew where. 

He didn’t know what to make of it all. His chest tightened all over again, disquiet seeping in. 

Too much. There was far too much.

Sunstreaker’s hand covering his jerked Sideswipe out of his quickly spiraling thoughts and his eyes snapped to his brother. Sunstreaker was looking at him, his face far more lucid than what Sideswipe was feeling.

Sideswipe was pretty sure his eyes were wild with everything. And not in an entirely good way.

“We gotta go,” Sunstreaker repeated.

“Where? Where do we go?” Sideswipe asked, voice shivering.

Where was water?

Sunstreaker sniffed the air too. Sideswipe could see the concentration on his face, and time passed by. Too much of it.

They were in a hurry, but they couldn’t rush in just any direction and hope it would lead to water. Who knew how far inland they were.

But there had to be water somewhere close enough for them to reach.

There _had_ to be.

He didn’t want to accept the alternative. 

After long seconds Sunstreaker pointed towards the distance. “Can you smell that?”

Again Sideswipe sniffed the air, again he tried and failed to shift through all the scents.

At first. But he tried, and he focused, and he took his time categorizing and discarding anything that wasn’t important.

Until he could smell it too. It was far, and it was faint, but there was the scent of water.

Fresh water.

But it was water.

“Yeah, I can,” Sideswipe breathed. “How far is it?”

“Not too far,” Sunstreaker said, pretty face twisting into a snarl all over again. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t need to say what the hurry was for. _Before the humans noticed they were gone, before the suns would rise and fry them with their merciless heat._

Before they were either caught or killed.

Water was their only salvation.

So Sunstreaker didn’t waste any more time, setting in motion towards the distant scent of the water. Sideswipe followed suit, dragging himself after his brother and aiding the task with his tail as much as he could—which wasn’t much. 

It hurt. By the pits it hurt. The ground was rough gravel under them. He already had wounds littering his underside, the skin was already next to gone.

His palms soon joined in on the injuries, when the small rocks ground into and through the thin skin.

It was getting hard to breathe, and not just because he couldn’t get enough air. The pain was constricting his throat even further, made tears stream unbidden down his face.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

Sunstreaker didn’t slow down.

Sideswipe couldn’t either.

On they went, sometimes obstructed by fences or buildings that made Sideswipe despair. The way was already so long, they didn’t need anything lengthening it further, but they had to take reroutes that only added to the distance.

Only added to the pain.

He was shaking from it and from the constant feeling of suffocation when Sunstreaker suddenly stopped. They were behind some bushes, on the other side of which there was an open, barren, winding route.

Something had given them the feeling they should avoid those, and when Sunstreaker hissed an urgent, “Get down!” they got their reason for the feeling.

Sideswipe dropped to the ground as soon as the order was given, as did Sunstreaker. At first he didn’t know what his brother had noticed, but within seconds the sound of a human vehicle became apparent. He hadn’t heard that in years, but he could still remember it.

The boat, the other vehicle afterwards. They’d both made that sound.

After another second light hit the bushes they were cowering behind. The sound got louder and louder as the thing approached, and Sideswipe could feel his heart beating so fast and hard it hurt. Was it going to come straight through the bushes? Hit them?

But no, it followed the route they’d been avoiding to the best of their ability. It went fast around the curve, and then its sound began to quiet as it moved into the distance.

For once Sideswipe was glad for their dull scales that wouldn’t have reflected much light even if some had hit them through the bushes. Maybe they would’ve gotten noticed otherwise.

Because there was no doubt there were humans in that thing.

They waited for a while longer until the sounds of the night returned, as if they’d never been disturbed in the first place. Then Sunstreaker rose back up, and Sideswipe did the same. They glanced at each other, spooked—but Sunstreaker, determined. Sideswipe could see it in his eyes.

Sideswipe didn’t feel as determined. “Let’s keep going,” Sunstreaker said quietly, flicking him with his tail. Sideswipe nodded numbly. The pause had given him a little too much time to think about the throbbing all around his underside, his palms—where he’d hit his tail against the door.

It all hurt.

Sunstreaker had to be hurting even more, what with his shoulder and doubly damaged tail, but he still didn’t show it. Sideswipe couldn’t understand how he managed that. 

Sideswipe for sure was showing it. His breath threatened to hitch with every movement he made, and the tears never slowed.

But they had to keep going.

They had to.

What was the alternative? Turn back? That would hurt just as much. Stay where they were until someone found them?

Dragged them back?

_At least the pain would end._

The humans were good at treating injuries. They could fix all of this too, Sideswipe was sure of it.

The pain would end.

It was such a tempting thought, but Sunstreaker didn’t wait, and Sideswipe hurried to follow despite the agony welling in the bloody trail they both left behind. Someone could definitely follow that.

But there was no one to follow it yet. Likely wouldn’t be before the morning.

And the night wasn’t at its end yet. The suns wouldn’t arrive yet.

They still had time.

If they could keep going.

Sideswipe’s resolve was wavering, though. Every grassy area they came to was a relief, but more often than not it was gravel they had to travel through. Not sand, _gravel._ The little rocks dug into his injuries, and Sideswipe was pretty sure they were inserting themselves straight into them. He wasn’t looking forward to the process of removing them.

_The humans could do it._ They’d sedate him, make him feel less, and they’d fix everything, all the scrapes, cuts, bruises, missing skin. It wouldn’t need to hurt so much.

All they needed to do was-

All they needed to do…

It hurt so much.

“Sunstreaker, I can’t do this.” Sideswipe came to a stop on the relieving span of grass they’d come across. Just… A moment of resting on something softer.

Something that didn’t aggravate his injuries as much.

The water was still so far. He could smell it, but it was _still so far._

“It’s too far,” Sideswipe pleaded to Sunstreaker with his voice, his eyes. Sunstreaker met his gaze without a flicker of expression.

Sideswipe didn’t know what he thought. He had no idea.

“Let’s just turn back,” he continued desperately, lifting one of his hands to look at his palm.

He sobbed at the sight. It was little more than a bloody mess. There were little rocks embedded in the lost skin between the ragged bits of black that were left of healthy scales.

He shook his head. He couldn’t do this. There was no way he could do this. “We can still make it back,” Sideswipe yet said, his voice cracking and breaking, desperation warring with another form of itself.

Despair at the thought of going back to the place they’d gone to such lengths to leave.

Despair at the thought of continuing towards some distant hope of water and its respite, that they weren’t sure they could ever even reach. If their injuries didn’t get them, maybe morning would. Maybe the suns would.

Finish them off.

Fish weren’t meant to be on land.

If they just went back... “The humans- The humans will come in the morning,” Sideswipe said, or tried to, but he was sobbing and gasping for air and he had no idea how much of what he said was even legible, “A-and they can help us back into our tank.

_“Please,_ Sunstreaker. Let’s just go back. I- I can’t do this. It’s too much.”


	2. Have You Been to the Water

For a moment Sunstreaker didn’t say or do anything. Sideswipe returned his palm to the ground to support his weight, and cried harder at the pain that shot up his arm.

Oh Primus they hurt. His palms, his underside. Everything hurt. Stabbing, throbbing, sharp, dull—he couldn’t even tell it all apart anymore.

It just hurt.

Too preoccupied, he didn’t notice Sunstreaker came to him before his brother had already wrapped an arm around him, pulling him against Sunstreaker’s cool, dry skin.

Pressed against him, Sideswipe could feel Sunstreaker shaking. Subtly, but he was. So maybe he wasn’t as unaffected by it all as he pretended to be. How could he be? He was just as hurt as Sideswipe was.

But Sunstreaker was strong. He would push through it because he had a goal he wanted to reach badly enough.

Sideswipe wasn’t as strong, and Sideswipe didn’t think he wanted for the same goal as badly.

He was the weak link.

He buried his face against Sunstreaker’s shoulder all over again and felt Sunstreaker’s arm tightening around him before a kiss was planted on the side of his head. “I know it hurts,” was murmured into his ear and Sideswipe scrunched his eyes shut, wrapping one of his own arms around Sunstreaker to pull him just that little bit closer. “I know it hurts so much, but _we can do this._ Just think about where we’re going. _Home._ Think about the water. _We can make it there.”_

Sideswipe tried. Again he brought back those age old memories, tried to picture them as clear as the day in his head, thought about what things had felt like back then–

How happy they’d been. 

If they regained even a fraction of that, it would be worth it.

Would the suffering in the meantime be worth it? When the alternative was returning back to the tank, back to circling within the same _four walls,_ back to being poked and prodded by the humans…

It was worth it.

He promised himself that, and he hung onto Sunstreaker, and he let Sunstreaker’s confidence surround him.

Let it build his own wavering resolve back up.

They could do this. They _would_ do this.

They had to. 

Sideswipe nodded mutely, carefully pulling back. They were in a hurry. “I can do this,” he promised, disregarding the fact his voice was still shaky and that tears continued to run unbidden down his face.

But he could do this. With Sunstreaker’s help, he could. 

All he needed to do was follow Sunstreaker and withstand the pain.

Sunstreaker nodded back at him, briefly cradling his face in his palm and leaving a bloody handprint behind. Sideswipe felt a pang of worry and sorrow, but it was the price they would pay.

It wasn’t that high.

“Good. Let’s keep going,” Sunstreaker said quietly but infinitely steadily before he turned back around and continued the way they’d been headed.

Following the scent of the water, no matter how far it took them. Across the grassy fields, across the spans of gravel, hurting, always hurting, but always ignoring it, always continuing—around obstacles, through vegetation, on and on. The stars and the moon travelled across the sky just as they traveled across the land on their quest.

It took them so far. He hadn’t known it was even possible for a mer to travel that far on land. He kept thinking he’d run out of air, but he kept not running out of air no matter how much he was forced to gasp for every breath, muscles burning from exertion and begging for oxygen he couldn’t provide them.

But they kept going. Every meter they took left a bloody trail behind them, like shredded corpses being dragged to a whatever destination.

But they were _alive._ The wind continued to whip against their faces, sometimes bringing the tantalizing scent of the water to them, other times turning and bringing entirely different smells their way.

Human scents were everywhere, but they couldn’t see any. Humans weren’t nocturnal, they’d deduced that much a long time ago. In the middle of the night like now, they were all in their shelters, sleeping, resting.

And they were free to creep under the cover of night without being noticed.

The night was merciful, too. Moonlight didn’t burn, and neither did starlight; they only lighted their path for them. The air was cooler than it would’ve been during the day.

Their skin still dried until it was tight and uncomfortable, itching and begging for moisture, but it wasn’t killing them straight away.

It wasn’t burning into crisp under the suns. Under the water they needed no protection against them beyond what the water itself provided.

They needed to reach water before sunrise. That much was given.

They would be dead if they didn’t, unsuited for the scorch of the day.

The scent was getting closer, slowly but steadily. Water. The human buildings never died away, standing like dark sentinels wherever they went, but they could work around them. Did work around them, keeping their distance to the best of their ability, weaving between them.

Always leaving their bloody trail for the humans to wonder about in the morning, once they all woke up.

But they were getting closer.

This time it was Sideswipe that heard something amiss first. He jumped forward and grabbed Sunstreaker by the tail, tugging him into a stop. “Sunny, Sunny, hear that?” he whispered urgently. Sunstreaker stopped and tried to breathe more quietly, just as Sideswipe tried, as they both listened.

Human voices. Still a distance away, but worrisome that they existed at all. They were loud, boisterous.

Good for covering up the sounds they made without even wanting to, but they couldn’t rely on just that.

“Good catch. Let’s try to circle around them,” Sunstreaker whispered back at him before he changed course and led them on a loop that would keep their distance to the noisy group of humans.

At one point they could just see them in the distance, spooking them both into putting even more distance between them—searching for some cover to put between them so they wouldn’t be so nakedly visible in the moonlight.

Waning moonlight. Morning was close, sunrise was close. He wasn’t sure why any humans were up at this time, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they _were_ awake, and that meant danger. 

More than that, they were in an even more of a rush to reach the water. It was close, they could smell that much.

And they were running out of time.

The human buildings only became flocked closer together as they approached the water, dragging themselves forward one pain filled inch after inch. Sideswipe didn’t think he would ever hurt as much as he did then, but Sunstreaker kept going, so he did too. 

The water kept approaching, its scent strengthening, until finally, they could see it.

Sideswipe gasped at the sight of it, his pace wavering.

The moon and the stars were reflecting off of its gently rippling surface. Actual, _wild_ water, with no walls, no obstacles. Under the open sky, at the mercy of the elements.

There were human buildings all around the lake as far as they could see. And it was a lake, not just a pond.

And they were close enough to see it.

The suns could be seen dawning in the horizon, their light slowly increasing.

But it didn’t matter. There was water.

They would be safe soon. Safe from it all—from the suns, from the land, from the pain, from the humans, from their tanks and their prisons.

They were so close.

 _Hope_ had him jerking forward again, racing past Sunstreaker, ignoring the pain in his body in favor of giving in to the heady feeling of freedom. It started to feel _real_ now. Like it was worth it.

All the hurt they’d gone through on their little journey through the night, that was soon to become _alright._

“Come on, come on!” he called to Sunstreaker, not even caring he was louder than he was ever supposed to be so close to human structures. He rushed forward, past the buildings, _through_ the one too flimsy fence in his way.

All the way to the edge of the water.

There he turned to look back to make sure Sunstreaker was still following him, and he was, but…

They also had onlookers.

A small group of humans, two big ones, two little ones, were standing on the porch of one of the white buildings. Watching them.

Sideswipe froze on the spot, his heart beginning to race from much more than just exertion and excitement.

They were so close. They couldn’t fail now. The humans… They couldn’t be allowed to do anything.

Sunstreaker turned to see what had caught his attention, and snarled when he laid his eyes on the four. Then he was already next to Sideswipe, slapping him on the tail when he came past, only to continue straight for the water. “Now, Sideswipe!”

His heart was still beating so fast, but Sideswipe jerked out of his staring contest with the humans and followed Sunstreaker those last few meters. Faster, faster, faster, away from the humans, before they could catch them, harm them, imprison them all over again–

Faster, until the water hit him in the arms, then his tail, until it came to his chest, until he only needed to pull himself forward with his arms _one more time_ before it took his weight–

And he was home.

Almost.

Sideswipe pulled the water into his dry gills as quickly as he could, feeling copious amounts of oxygen return to his bloodstream.

No more desperate gasping for useless _air._

Now there was water. It caressed the length and width of his body, washed away the blood from his open wounds, soothed the burning injuries, the scrapes, the cuts—cleaned it all up.

And Sideswipe cried. His tears didn’t fall here, but he cried all the same, swimming ahead without any sight of a wall that would force him to turn or hit it.

That would trap him.

Free. Free to go wherever he liked. Free to live.

He swam until he collided with Sunstreaker, his brother wrapping him so tightly into his arms. Sideswipe clung to him in return, crying, laughing, feeling the kind of _joy_ he hadn’t been sure he ever would again. 

Hope. He’d dreamed all his life. Dreamed of this exact moment, of returning into the wild waters. He’d _hoped,_ so badly, even as he was scared of that same hope, and grew more and more scared of those dreams as time went on—as the memories grew more distant.

But now they were here, and the smells! The movement of the water! It was _better_ than anything in his memories, more alive, _real._ It was too much for his mind to process after being trapped in such a small space for such a long time, but at the same time, he couldn’t get enough of it. Bring all the scents, bring the sensations, the currents, the sounds! All the other life around—plants, animals, the indeterminate things in between. 

_Bring it._

Sunstreaker’s skin wasn’t dry anymore, underwater where they belonged. Sideswipe could feel it for himself too, how his skin began to slowly recover from being exposed to air for so long. His body was still sore, and would be for some time before everything healed, but there was nothing further aggravating things.

Just the water, smooth all around him. Such a gentle contrast to the unforgiving land that only wanted to break and kill them. 

He held Sunstreaker and Sunstreaker held him and he could feel with every fiber of his being the same relief emanating from Sunstreaker that he himself was feeling. “We need to keep moving,” Sunstreaker said despite that, and for a moment Sideswipe’s delight addled mind couldn’t fathom why.

His brother continued, though. “We need to find the river and reach the ocean before they try to catch us here.”

And he was right. They could try to trap them in the lake, block off the river, or funnel them into a trap in the river.

And they would know where they were. They’d left a whole damn trail for them to follow with their injuries.

They would need to be fast to stay ahead of them. There was no time to rejoice before they were in the vastness of the ocean and could disappear into the deep blue.

Sideswipe nodded and pulled away, though not before butting his forehead against Sunstreaker’s.

Then he nodded again, just to make sure Sunstreaker understood how much he was agreeing with him.

They wouldn’t be truly free before they reached the sea.

They had to reach the sea. “Let’s keep going,” he said, and Sunstreaker nodded back at him, and then they set in motion again.

Except this time it didn’t hurt. This time it wasn’t incredibly laborious—it didn’t threaten to break them.

This time it only required _swimming,_ and they were really damn good at that. 

Sideswipe couldn’t resist deviating from a straight line so often, twirling through the water, on and _on_ with no wall to halt his progress after a few tail strokes. He thought he might just die from the unrealness of it—from how unbelievably good it felt.

Like this was what he was supposed to have been doing for his whole life.

And that was the truth. There was nothing natural about the tank, nothing about it that they were ever meant to endure. 

_This._ This was what it was all about, what life was supposed to be like.

Sunstreaker was uncharacteristically playful right beside him, circling around him, up and over and behind and in front of him, enjoying the freedom to do whatever he willed just as much as Sideswipe was. He wasn’t sure if they would ever get used to it, or if they’d ever again begin to take it for granted like they had before.

He couldn’t see himself doing that, at least. It seemed impossible after the years they’d spent without it all—years they weren’t likely to forget anytime soon–

Years they weren’t going to get back.

But now… Now they could start making up for them all.

They needed to get to the ocean first, though. The lake was an improvement, but it wasn’t deep enough to truly provide them room to maneuver. If he thought about it too much it just reminded him of the limitations of the tank.

They were an ocean dwelling species. They needed to get back there, where they had all the room they could wish for.

Where no humans could hope to reach them, if they were careful and _didn’t_ go investigating weird bumps in the water. 

To that end they both kept a look out despite their play. The basin of the lake curved unevenly to their right and they followed near the shore, just so they wouldn’t miss the start of the river.

Then they reached it. The suns were so close to beaming onto the water, but they found it. Sunstreaker hissed in satisfaction when they could, without a doubt, feel the current leading water from the lake and they shared a look before they broke from their path and headed into the opening in the lake’s bank.

It wasn’t a wide river, but it was (relatively) deep, giving them the chance to dive well out of sight. They could still see human constructs lining the sides of the river for a while, but as they continued swimming, those slowly grew more sparse until there were none left.

And as time went on without anything catastrophic happening, tension began to ease out of Sideswipe. The suns were up, though low in the sky still. The humans had to have noticed them gone, and the mess they’d left behind, all the way to the lake.

But could they catch up even despite that? They swam fast, far, far faster than they moved on land, and they weren’t dawdling now. They had a purpose and a drive and they were pushing themselves to go as quickly as they could—much to discover that swimming so far, so fast was _taxing,_ when they’d spent most of their lives swimming a _circle._ But they could do it, terribly out of shape or not, and no matter how tired they already were from the night before. They’d spent it entirely on the move in the most unnatural, uncomfortable way possible, they were sore all over, _and_ they hadn’t slept an eyeful.

But they could do it.

They had to.

It was a long trip, there was no way around that. They also didn’t know what would await them at the other end of it. The ocean, yes, but… What did they know about life in the ocean? It took years to learn to live as a productive part of a pod.

They hadn’t even had a single year.

What the pit did they know about anything, with only old, frayed memories to even help them?

But Sideswipe didn’t feel as afraid as he would’ve thought he would. Sure, it was a little scary, but more than that, it was an _adventure._ He hadn’t even… Hadn’t even remembered how much he’d loved the unknown of life, how every day was different, how you could never know what would come next. The wild was just that: _wild,_ untamed. 

Nothing like the aquarium with its timed, predictable routines only rarely broken up by a curveball the humans threw at them. 

Here and in the ocean there would be too many variables to truly predict what would happen next, even if experience could grow impressive intuition. 

And the sheer scale of it all! The river was nothing in comparison to what there would be. The whole of the ocean as their playing field… And as soon as they’d found a pod, they could get to exploring it. For the rest of their _lives,_ because with the whole planet to traverse, they would never have the time to learn everything.

But that was the thing: they would need to find a pod. There was no way they would survive for long without one, just the two of them, with their severely lacking life skills. 

Sideswipe hoped that wouldn’t be too difficult. It shouldn’t be; their species was numerous. It should only be a matter of time before they got the signal of a pod they could try to join.

And there shouldn’t be any reason why that would be _too_ long of a time. They had a while before they could expect starvation to get the better of them. Plenty enough to find other mers if everything went right.

The suns were already beaming nearly directly overhead by the time they could smell _salt_ for the first time. Sideswipe perked up at the first whiff of it, reaching out to grab Sunstreaker’s arm and shake it. “Smell that?”

Sunstreaker growled at him without much aggression. “Yeah. We’re so close.”

There was a bit of anxiety in his voice, and that made the feeling repeat in Sideswipe.

So close, yet so far. What if the humans had gotten ahead of them and _were_ waiting, ready for them? The river wasn’t that dissimilar from any old trap. There were only two ways to go.

Sideswipe slowed down, and worrisomely, so did Sunstreaker. “I’ll go check what’s above water,” Sideswipe said after a moment’s consideration, and waited until Sunstreaker had nodded at him before he swam to the surface, found a shady spot near the bank of the river, flattened his head fin, and carefully peeked out of the water.

His heart sank at what he saw. There were indeed humans, with boats and nets, no doubt waiting for _them._

He had as good and thorough of a look as he dared in fear of getting noticed, before he dipped back beneath the water and quickly swam back to Sunstreaker. “They’re here!” he exclaimed, quietly, in worry the humans were listening somehow.

Sunstreaker snarled, and this time the sound was all the way aggressive. “Fuck them! Why can’t they just leave us be?” he growled, echoing Sideswipe’s own thoughts.

Why indeed? What was it about them that made them want to endlessly toy with and torture them? They’d never seen other mers. _Ever._ Was it really just them? Couldn’t be; there had always been stories about mers being taken, or escaping and returning to the ocean.

But why them? They’d already gotten _out_. Why did they have to be so insistent on keeping them captive?

“What are we going to do? We need to get past them,” Sideswipe whispered, swimming from side to side anxiously. He didn’t dare approach, but they _needed_ to. They needed to get by somehow, either without the humans noticing them, or _in spite_ of them noticing them. 

Probably the latter. The humans could be surprisingly hard to fool despite how dumb they were.

Sunstreaker was quiet for a moment, thinking, and Sideswipe gave him the time regardless of the nerves that began to rise where he’d already thought them dead and gone. They couldn’t fail now. They _couldn’t._

“We swim fast and think faster,” Sunstreaker eventually said. Sideswipe glanced at him in askance. “We have to assume they’ll be ready for us,” his brother continued at his wordless prompting, “that they’ll notice us… And get past them despite that. And we’re going to do that by moving fast, by being ready to dodge in any direction at a moment’s notice when we notice them trying something. _Anything_ to undermine everything they might try.”

He growled that last bit, and Sideswipe could see his frustration in the set of his jaw, the tightness of his muscles. Sunstreaker was as done with the humans as he was, but he was less afraid and more just… Angry.

Sideswipe wished he could’ve been too, but the truth was that his heart was quaking at the thought of all of this being for _naught._

He couldn’t go back to all that. Not after what they’d already done to get this far.

He _couldn’t…_

“Ready?” Sunstreaker asked, and Sideswipe swallowed once, twice, trying to stamp down on his nerves. They would only distract him.

He needed to _focus_ if he wanted to make it through this.

Then he nodded.

“Alright. Let’s go, we have better chances if we give them two targets to focus on.” With that Sunstreaker set in motion, _fast,_ and Sideswipe was forced to work to keep up with him.

They went quickly, just as Sunstreaker had said, and when they approached, they could see the shapes of the boats on the surface, the silhouettes of the humans barely visible standing at the banks of the river, and the _nets._ They were strewn across the water from bank to bank and in between the boats too.

“How are we going to get past those?” Sideswipe asked, trying to do as Sunstreaker had said they would—think fast. He looked around, up, down, left, right, trying to build the bigger picture, see where the nets weren’t blocking the way.

“Down and to the sides,” Sunstreaker said, the same conclusion Sideswipe came to after his quick inspection. Sunstreaker was already ahead of him, heading to the bottom left as fast as his tail would allow, and Sideswipe followed just as quickly. 

Sunstreaker slipped through the crack between the river bank and the net, but he clipped his tail when the humans wizened up and moved the net further to the left–

Blocking the way for Sideswipe.

He gasped and quickly reangled himself to avoid getting tangled in the net, and instead circled back the way they’d come, just to buy himself some time to think.

It would take him too long to swim to the right side. They’d just move the net again.

Up?

Up.

Sideswipe turned back around, accelerated, and angled towards the surface. He tried to judge how far above the water the net continued…

And it was pretty far above.

It went high, as well as deep.

But that was fine. They’d taught him to jump their hoops.

He could do this.

Sideswipe rocketed towards the surface, calculating the angle he would need to break from the water in to get over the net without his leap falling too short or too low.

Then he went even faster, if he just could–

And then the surface was there, and he broke through it, and after another push from his tail his whole body was airborne.

The suns were hot. They were lucky to have reached the water before they came up.

And there were humans watching him. Too many of them. To his left, to his right, in front of him, on land, on their boats.

All around.

But his angle and speed were tried and true. The net came before him, then under him, then behind him, and then the water rushed to meet him all over again.

Sideswipe dove back under its comforting embrace, _success_ making his heart flutter side by side with the worry that _he wasn’t done yet._

He kept swimming, just as Sunstreaker had said they would, as fast as he could, taking stock of his surroundings as he went. The biggest net was behind him, but there were still the boats with humans on them…

He remembered the day they’d been first captured, and he _dove._ Deeper, much deeper, but not all the way to the bottom. He didn’t want to trap himself against any one thing.

The water wasn’t very deep here, but he hoped it would be deep enough.

Then he kept swimming.

He could hear the boats’ idle hums roar to loudness in a way that was far too familiar, but the nets were above him, and he wasn’t sure if the humans could even see him. Was he safe? Sideswipe didn’t think so, so he kept swimming, but equally he didn’t think he was in any immediate danger.

The boats were still faster than him as they accelerated, but he was past the choke point of the river’s end.

The water kept getting deeper.

And he kept following the downward slope of the shore, further and further from the humans’ reach.

But more importantly, he kept going _forward,_ towards the open ocean. The water was growing saltier by the second, the fresh water the river brought mingling fast with the salty sea water—stinging in his wounds, but he could ignore that. 

The humans wouldn’t get him. They fucking _wouldn’t._ This would be it, the day he finally got away from their grasp for good, and there would be _nothing_ they could do about it. 

He kept going, forward and down, further and further, his eyes adjusting to the dimming waters as he fled from the surface and went deeper than he had ever gone in so, so long.

It felt good. It felt so good to swim so freely, to _have_ swam so freely already. It didn’t matter that he was tired, that his body ached.

Freedom was intoxicating. It drowned out the rest.

He swam even further and deeper until the sound of the boats was a faint rumble somewhere too far away from him, and then…

Sunstreaker.

Where was Sunstreaker?

Sideswipe turned around at once, casting a wild glance around, but they weren’t in the tank anymore.

There was so much room here. It would be stupid to think he could just see Sunstreaker whenever he wanted to.

So he screamed instead. “Sunstreaker!”

His voice carried in the water, far in every direction–

But there was no answer. 

“No no no no no, Sunny…” Sideswipe whimpered, turning this way and that, debating if he was going to risk turning back or heading up.

Could he really? Would it be worth it?

_For Sunstreaker?_

“SUNNY!”

What would Sunstreaker do for him? What could he even do for Sunstreaker?

Sunstreaker had been ahead of him. He _had_ to have gotten past the humans.

Right?

“SUNSTREAKER!”

Sideswipe chose to risk it. He headed closer to the surface, cautious still, trying to keep his distance from the boats.

They probably didn’t hold Sunstreaker, though. He was probably closer to the shore, _if_ he was there. 

“Sunny…” He didn’t want to leave Sunstreaker, but what could he do either? What if Sunstreaker wasn’t even there anymore? What if they’d already taken him?

Even if they hadn’t, _what could he do?_ There would be so many humans. Was there any way he could free Sunstreaker?

There most likely wasn’t.

Sideswipe brought one ragged hand to his mouth to stifle a sob before burying his entire face into his aching palms.

 _They’d gotten so far._

How could it all end like this?

But he couldn’t leave Sunstreaker either. He _couldn’t._

Even if it meant…

Even if it meant losing everything else all over again. He _wouldn’t_ leave Sunstreaker.

It still wasn’t an easy decision to come to. He wasn’t eager.

But he was certain.

Sideswipe wiped the back of his hand across his eyes before he took a deep breath, pushed it out through his gills slowly, steadied himself–

And headed back.

He didn’t go fast. He kept hoping against reason that he was wrong.

But if he was wrong, Sunstreaker would’ve answered him. 

He didn’t want to. He really didn’t want to. The sea called him, a literal ocean of opportunity. His life, his _future._

But he couldn’t leave Sunstreaker.

Closer to the surface, closer to the shore. He kept avoiding the boats though, not that there were really any left in the immediate area. They were all either closer to the shore or further out.

Either with Sunstreaker, or looking for Sideswipe.

One third of the way, and his hope began to die. They had tried so hard, gone through so much, and for what?

For it all to end like this all over again?

But he couldn’t leave Sunstreaker. He would never be able to live with himself if he did.

Death would be the kinder option at that point.

Half of the way.

“Sideswipe!”

Sideswipe froze, his body gliding on in the water on its own for a moment, before he violently turned around and scanned the direction he’d come from.

That had come from behind him.

He couldn’t see anything, but the call repeated, familiar, and Sideswipe rocketed back in the direction of the wild ocean as he returned it. “Sunstreaker!”

Again his name was called, and again he returned it, and he kept swimming now that he knew the exact direction the voice had come from.

There, in the distance, a flash of muted yellow.

“Sunny,” Sideswipe sobbed as they neared, only to crash into each other with too much speed for comfort.

Neither cared. Sunstreaker grabbed onto him and Sideswipe wrapped his arms around him, pressing their bodies as close together as he possibly could as Sunstreaker spoke in broken words.

“I’m sorry- I kept swimming, I wanted to lose them- I didn’t realize- I went too far- You thought- _I’m so sorry.”_

“I thought they’d caught you!” Sideswipe confirmed in what was only a little short of a straight up wail, digging his claws into Sunstreaker just to make sure he was there and real.

Sunstreaker hissed in pain, so he had to be, but he didn’t try to pull away from the pricking talons.

Just hugged him tighter.

“I’m sorry, Sideswipe. I’m so sorry.”

And Sideswipe could hear it in his voice. He was sorry.

Sideswipe wasn’t mad, though.

“It’s okay,” he said, relaxing now that… Now that Sunstreaker was here.

Now that they were both here and in one piece.

Both alright. “Nothing happened. It’s okay.”

They clung onto each other in the open water for a moment longer before Sideswipe carefully peeled away from his twin and went to cup his face.

Only to catch a sight of his palm. The blood had been washed away and it had stopped bleeding, but the skin was all torn, the flesh raw, and he could see little dark spots there.

Rock bits.

And the water stung. He could ignore it, mostly. It was what he’d grown up in, what he was created and designed for.

But it still stung.

He grimaced. Sunstreaker followed his eyes to his palm and did the same in sympathy, before raising his own palm for inspection and shaking his head at it. Sideswipe peeked at that too, and it really didn’t look any different.

Fish weren’t meant to be on land.

“Should we do something about all this?” he asked, gesturing at his palm, then at his underside, which was much in the same shape. “Are we… Far enough? Safe enough?”

Sunstreaker dipped a little lower to get a better look at the state of Sideswipe’s tail before he slowly nodded. “I think we are. And I think it’s best we get it out of the way soon. Besides… With the humans so close, maybe predators will think twice before coming over.” At the smell of blood? Because yeah, Sideswipe suspected there would be some of that once they got to digging around in their goddamn wounds for pieces of gravel to pluck out.

But he nodded. “Yeah. Then we can get the _fuck_ away from here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a happy end! Thanks for reading.


End file.
